Shades of Awe: The Role of Awe in Consumers' Pro-environmental Behavior

Climate change is a critical issue right now. Despite substantial work in academia examining this issue, more solutions are needed to encourage consumers to engage in more pro-environmental behavior. In the current research, we explore the ability of awe, a unique and powerful self-transcendent emotion, to motivate pro-environmental behavior and green consumption. Using different methods to induce awe and assess the effect of awe on consumers' pro-environmental behavior, we conducted three experimental studies. Across our studies, our results show that when consumers feel awe, they are more likely to engage in pro-environmental behavior and consumption. Further, we distinguish among three kinds of awe (awe of nature, awe of God, and awe from man-made wonders) and show that awe arising from nature and from God increases pro-environmental behavior more than awe from man-made wonders. In addition, a series of mediation analyses show that the effects distinguishing different sources of awe are best accounted for by different mediators rather than one common mediator; specifically these relationships are mediated by consumers' feelings of small self (i.e., diminished self-concept) and their level of spirituality, respectively. Implications for how marketers and practitioners can best utilize the power of awe for encouraging pro-environmental behavior are discussed.